A DC voltage regulator provides to a load a well-specified and stable DC (‘direct current’) output voltage whose fluctuations from a nominal value are low compared to fluctuations of the power supply that is regulated. The operation of the regulator is based on feeding back an error signal whose value is a function of the difference between the actual output voltage and the nominal value, which is amplified and used to control current flow through a pass device (such as a power transistor) from the power supply to the load. The drop-out voltage is the value of the difference between the power supply voltage and the desired regulated voltage below which regulation is lost. A low drop-out voltage regulator continues to regulate the output voltage effectively until the power supply voltage reduces to a value close to the desired regulated value. A low drop-out voltage regulator is therefore particularly useful in applications where it is powered by the same power supply used to supply the load, since it continues to function almost until the power supply becomes too low to supply the load at the desired voltage in any case.
The low drop-out nature of the regulator makes it appropriate (over other types of regulators such as dc-dc converters and switching regulators) for use in many applications such as automotive, portable, and industrial applications with an internal power supply, especially a battery. In the automotive industry, the low drop-out voltage is necessary during cold-crank conditions where an automobile's battery voltage of nominally 12V can drop below 6V, for example. Demand for LDO voltage regulators is also apparent in hand held battery operated products (such as cellular phones, pagers, camera recorders and laptop computers).
A known LDO voltage regulator comprises a comparator, which is a differential voltage amplifier that produces the feedback error signal by comparing a voltage related to the output voltage to a reference voltage, an intermediate buffer stage responsive to the differential amplifier output, the pass device, and a bypass capacitor coupled to the load. These elements constitute a regulation loop which provides voltage regulation.
In many known LDO voltage regulators, the bypass capacitor has to have a large capacitance to ensure stability of the operation of the regulator, which is costly, especially since this usually requires the use of an external capacitor. Not only is the cost of the capacitor component itself higher if the component is larger but also the component occupies more space on the circuit board of the regulator. These factors are aggravated if a given device needs several voltage regulators. Moreover, design of the regulator is often complex, and the design complexity increases with the number of different poles in the regulator and with the effects of parasitic impedances and manufacturing tolerances.
There is a need for an LDO voltage regulator that alleviates some or all of the above disadvantages. 